Australian Scott Draper knocked former world number two Michael Chang out of the Australian Hard-court Championship in Adelaide yesterday.
Draper mixed unbeatable shot-making for most of the match with a concentration lapse late in the second set before beating sixth-seed Chang 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) in a second-round match.
The Queenslander was in command in the first set with solid all-court tennis in windy conditions and then grew in confidence and aggression to take five straight games and a 5-1 lead in the second set.
But serving for victory at 5-2 he gave Chang a sniff with baseline errors. Chang grabbed the chance to break back twice and win the next four games before Draper managed to hold his serve and force a tiebreaker.
Down three set points at 6-3 in the tiebreaker, Draper then dug deep to reel off five straight points to seal the match.
Draper will now play compatriot Michael Tebbutt in the quarter-finals after the 122nd-ranked Australian, who received a last minute wildcard into the event, eliminated 1997 French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten, 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/3).
Tebbutt's victory over the world number 23 Brazilian was his biggest scalp since he beat Spain's Albert Costa in Sydney last January.
Earlier in the day, second seed Thomas Enqvist of Sweden took advantage of a rest day to post a quick-fire 6-2, 6-3 win over German David Prinosil.
He will play Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty in the quarter-finals after Hrbaty was awarded his second-round match when German qualifier Oliver Gross withdrew with a lower back injury.
Swiss second seed Patty Schnyder reached the quarterfinals of the women's championships. She beat Wang Shi-ting of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 6-4 and now plays either Dragomir Ruxandra of Romania or Magui Serna of Spain for a place in the semi-finals.
Nathalie Dechy of France beat seventh-seeded Elena Likhovtseva of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to book a place in the last eight against compatriat and number one seed Mary Pierce.
Men's Championship (Adelaide) - (x denotes seeding): second round: T Enqvist (Swe x2) bt D Prinosil (Ger) 6-2, 6-3; M Tebbutt (Aus) bt G Kuerten (Bra x3) 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (7/3); D Hrbaty (Svk) bt O Gross (Ger) w/o; S Draper (Aus) bt M Chang (US x6) 6-3, 7-6 (8/6).
Women's Championship (Hope Island) - second round: I Spirlea (Rom x3) bt A Smashnova (Isr) 6-4, 6-1; P Schnyder (Swi x2) bt W Shi-ting (Tpe) 6-3, 6-4; M Pierce (Fra x1) bt I Gorrochategui (Arg) 6-2, 6-2; N Dechy (Fra) bt E Likhovtseva (Rus x7) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; A Sugiyama (Jpn x4) bt S Pitkowski (Fra) 6-4, 7-5; A Huber (Ger x5) bt A Sidot (Fra) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5; M Serna (Spa x6) bt R Dragomir (Rom) 6-3, 6-4; K Hrdlickova (Cze) v B Rippner (US).
